In a recent column, I wrote about justice denied in the case of a high school teacher accused of raping a student at Choate Rosemary Hall. Some have since given credit to Wallingford’s elite boarding school for coming forward and vowing to change. That’s fine, but let’s consider the degree of cunning that went into its decision.

First, let’s recall what happened. During a 1999 field trip to Costa Rica, Jaime Rivera-Murillo, a Spanish teacher, got hammered poolside before allegedly stripping a 17-year-old of her swim wear, pushing her to the wall and sodomizing her in front of terrified Choate students.

That’s what came to light after Choate released last month the scandalous results of an investigation conducted by its team of attorneys. Choate never reported the incident, allegedly violating a state law on the books since 1967 requiring those in contact with students to report any evidence of sexual misconduct within 12 hours.

Choate didn’t do that in the case of Rivera-Murillo, nor in the case of 11 other teachers who, over five decades, are alleged to have perpetrated sexual crimes against 24 unsuspecting kids who had come to see them as surrogate dads. Instead, one of the most prestigious schools in the country, a hallowed institution that edified luminaries such as John F. Kennedy, Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Ivanka Trump, decided preserving its reputation trumped exposing its sexual predators.

How? In the case of Rivera-Murillo, school officials quietly asked him to leave. He did, and for more than 15 years, students at Newtown High School had no idea their friendly Spanish teacher had been accused of rape. Newtown officials say they had no idea. Rivera-Murillo left Choate off his resume, and since Choate never reported him, they never suspected. Rivera-Murillo left Newtown in 2016.

Choate’s report sparked an immediate outcry. Alumni demanded the board of trustees remove former headmasters Charles Dey and Edward Shanahan as lifetime members for failing to protect students. They resigned last week. As for Rivera-Murillo, he was forced to quit as principal of Litchfield’s Wamogo Regional High School.

Choate’s report was seen as part of a trend toward getting rid of bad apples. In the past, institutions kept sexual misconduct quiet. Now, they know that the sooner they repent, the sooner they move on.

That’s what happened at Fox News Channel, which decided $13 million in hush money was the most it wanted to pay to protect ousted host Bill O’Reilly from allegations of sexual harrassment. One of the alleged victims in the Choate story, Cheyenne Montgomery, told NPR that the school’s report “is going to make Choate a better place,” because it will reverse decades of silence on the matter.

You might agree, and you might be inclined to praise the school for coming clean. But that might change with the answer to this question: Why did Choate release the report? And why now?

The Boston Globe had already reported bits and pieces of the scandal. By releasing the report now, Choate benefits from admitting to misconduct before it’s revealed to the world. But that’s just one part of the legal strategy I suspect Choate’s attorneys had in mind.

The other part is protecting the school from criminal liability. To do that, attorneys had to time the report for release as the statute of limitations was running out on the most recent crime. In the case of Rivera-Murillo, the alleged incident was nearly 20 years old. State law allows for extended prosecution if minors report being raped within five years. That didn’t happen. Rivera-Murillo is scot-free.

That was the conclusion of my last column. Justice may never be served. But here’s the conclusion of this one: Don’t give Choate too much credit. The cover-up paid off in the end. The Associated Press reported last week that Wallingford police cannot press changes against administrators. Time has run out. So it’s a win-win for Choate. The school gets public praise for appearing to do the right thing while avoiding criminal liability. It can’t get better than that.

If we are indeed moving toward greater transparency and greater accountability about sexual misconduct in the workplace and in the boarding schools of Connecticut’s elite, I’m all for it. But it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the old ways work just as well.

Victims are still victims.

And justice still doesn’t prevail.

John Stoehr is a lecturer in political science at Yale and a New Haven resident. Reach him at johnastoehr@gmail.com.